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Notes from the London Film Festival #1
It’s that time of year again, and I’ve bought a selection of tickets to London Film Festival titles. For the most part, I’ve avoided films that are going to get a decent-sized release in the near future, and I’ve also avoided titles that are definitely going to streaming – in the main because I’ll be…
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Urban Hill Climb 2022
The UK has some very individual events in the world of cycling – a good example being the classic 10 mile time trial, often take place on stretches of dual carriageway. And then there are the hill climbs. These events tend to take place in the early autumn, organised by local clubs, and involve riders…
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Did Commercial Broadcasters Really Lose Millions of Pounds on Monday?
As I type, I’ve yet to see any viewing figures for how many people watched the Queen’s funeral on British TV yesterday – they were going to be late being published due to “abnormally high levels of viewing for The State Funeral.” I think it’s safe to assume that it will be a very large…
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5,331,034 Podcasts
Based in part on a short thread I posted on Twitter the other day. Spotify sent out a notification the other day that proudly proclaimed. “How many podcasts?!“5331034. Dig deep and discover yours.” Spotify has over 5 million podcasts then. But is that a good thing? How many of those titles are good? Can I…
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Can I Watch ‘Une Femme Mariée’?
Spoiler: No, I can’t. Jean-Luc Godard has died, and in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw writes about the director and in particular his love of 1964’s Une Femme Mariée. While I know and love Breathless and Le Mépris, I’ve never seen this film – also known as A Married Woman. So I decided to seek it…
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Podcasts in Twitter
Note: This is a slightly expanded version of a Twitter thread that I published earlier today. Last week came news that Twitter was including podcasts in its app, and today I noticed that my beta version of the Twitter Android app now included podcasts, so here are a few initial thoughts based on playing with…
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Waiting for Top Gun
If you visited Prime Video, Apple TV or Google Play Movies in the last couple of days, you may have noticed that there’s something new available to buy. Top Gun: Maverick has just arrived on digital-to-own streaming services. In the UK, it’s priced at £11.99 for an SD copy (Why would anyone buy a title…
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The Romantic by William Boyd
William Boyd is the contemporary master of the ‘whole life novel’ – books that use a character’s entire lifetime to tell a story. He wrote about how he fell into this in The Guardian back in 2018, first writing a novel in this fashion with The New Confessions. Subsequently, he has also written Any Human…
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Authenticity by Alice Sherwood
As with all non-fiction books, there is a subtitle – ‘How economics, evolution and technology drive us to deceive – and how we can fight back.’ I was completely engaged by this book which uses a wide array of examples to examine the wider subject of what authenticity and being authentic actually means today. Starting…
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RAJAR Q2 2022
A quick note to anyone looking to say that because of poor planning on my part, I’m currently hiking in the mountains and therefore not able to write about the latest RAJAR figures. Yes – I’ve missed one… I’ll publish something on Sunday or Monday. In the meantime, Matt will have something to read!
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L’Étape du Tour 2022
There is an accompanying podcast to this blog! Listen at the bottom of the piece or follow this link. I’ve done a few sportives over the years, but the one I’d always wanted to have a go at was L’Étape du Tour, the sportive from ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France who each…
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IPL TV and Streaming Rights
Long-time readers will know that I have a deep fascination with sports rights, the value attached to them and the value generated by the companies that buy them. Sports bodies have worked out the most efficient ways to maximise those rights, getting big media giants to spend freely every few years. The Indian Premier League…
Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night
Yellowface by R F Kuang I first came across R F Kuang with last year’s very enjoyable Babel, an alternate history of the British Empire told in a world where magic exists and is controlled by an elite group of individuals. Yellowface is very different, but no less enjoyable. It’s a book about books, and…
Hadrian’s Wall
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